Lymphocytic hypophysitis is an autoimmune chronic inflammatory disease caused by infiltration of lymphocytes and plasmacytes into the hypothalamic infundibulum and pituitary. Lymphocytic infundibuloneurohypophysitis (hereinafter abbreviated as “LINH”) is a disease accompanied by inflammation limited to infundibulum and posterior lobe, and shows central diabetes insipidus. The diagnosis of LINH is sometimes difficult, and its definite diagnosis requires biopsy of the pituitary. However, such diagnosis is invasive and thus is scarcely carried out, and not a few subjects are erroneously diagnosed and subjected to needless surgery. The etiology of the disease is unknown, and there is no established therapy.
Some diagnostic markers (biomarkers) for lymphocytic hypophysitis are reported (for example, see Non-Patent Literatures 1 to 5), but none of them is clinically applied because none of them combines high sensitivity and high specificity. In addition, there is no report on the diagnosis marker specific to LINH.